The Road Not Taken
by nomadeagle
Summary: What if humanity progressed on a different path, a path more focused on science, and understanding the universe. What if this path followed the path the Ancients took. And what if this humanity met the Mass effect races.
1. Prologue

**A/N: Hello, and welcome to my first fanfiction.**

**I had this idea for a while and finally decided to try to write it. Hopefully I manage to balance to fandoms properly and not mess it up.**

**I'm not a native English speaker and don't have a beta, so even though I check the chapters myself a few typos and mistakes may slip by. Feel free to point them out.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p><strong>CIC, PSF <em>Spear of Justice<em>, System 314**

The 27th Turian Patrol Fleet glided through the void in graceful silence. It was an ordinary patrol, one the crew have done many times before, so naturally Captain Desolas Arterius was bored.

Oh how would he have killed for a small pirate skirmish nearby, or even a distress call from a broken down ship, something, anything marginally interesting to happen. As he was just about to open a comm channel to his brother down in weapons control, one of the sensor officers called out to him.

"Sir!"

"What is it ensign?"

"Relay 314 is active!"

"What?!" - Okay maybe not something _that_ interesting.

"Helm! Get us there on the double. Signal all ships, and prepare weapons. Pray that we don't need them."

The trip to the relay took a few tense minutes. Everyone was on edge, hoping it wouldn't be the Rachni Wars all over again.

"Exiting FTL."

"Sensors! Anything?"

"The relay still active, but nothing else on-screen. Maybe they haven't come through yet."

"It's possible, but it's better if we don't take any chances, send out a high-powered LIDAR ping, and send out scouts to the system's planets. Have them do the same when they arrive."

High powered LIDAR ping were basically nothing else just a series of very bright flashes of light in the infrared range, then waiting if anything reflects it. It's rarely used in space for long-range scans, meaning anything above a few light seconds, because of FTL. By the time the light gets back from the approaching ship, The ship has already arrived.

"Scouts report nothing at the planets. or anything nearby."

"Then it seems you maybe right, they really haven't co…"

"Sir! The scout at the innermost planet reporting a contact, it's trajectory is ballistic, and seems to have come from the relay."

"Have the scouts return and move to intersect."

"Sir! We're not gonna be there on time!"

"What do you mean, Ensign?"

"The ship is headed straight for the systems sun. Even if we leave now we wouldn't be able to intercept them, before they get too close to the sun."

"No matter, we have to try! Helm! Get us there, full speed! I'm not about to let an upstart race pay with their lives, for a mistake they made unknowingly."

/-

"Dropping out of FTL."

"Sensors! Anything?"

"No Sir, I'm sorry. High powered LIDAR pings are extremely inaccurate at these ranges, most likely they have already got too close to the sun to survive."

"Damn! Alright, turn us around get us back to the relay, and sent a message to the Council saying…"

"Spirits…"

Desolas knew that tone, he heard it several times from soldiers during their first battle, when he was still climbing through the ranks. When their brains refused to accept the reality before them, and just shut down. He never heard it from a person, with whom he got through several battle together.

"What is it?"

"That's…impossible…"

"Ensign!" – The cracking voice of his superior officer managed to get through the shock and snap the soldier out of it.

"Sir! The ship!"

"Yes? Have you managed to locate it?"

"Yes! But…"

"But what?"

"It's coming _out_ of the sun... and it's accelerating!"

"WHAT?!"

* * *

><p><strong>Bridge, SSV <em>Aurora<em>, System 314**

"Closing solar collectors. Engines online, all systems restored. Recharge complete."

"Excellent. Now if _someone _would please explain, why the hell did that Relay purge all of our stored energy, I'd be very grateful." – said Captain Archer looking pointedly at his science officer, a brilliand albeit a bit eccentric Dr. Novak.

"Well, because of our new FTL drive we don't need to use relays to get around, and while the ship have been tested for relay travel, we never encountered a relay this big. In all likelihood, it uses more powerful mass effect fields to maintain translation speed for longer journeys. Mass effect fields that our batteries weren't prepared for. We're lucky we had enough energy in our capacitors to make a few course corrections and keep up the shield."

"So our brand new cutting-edge ship was taken down by a relay… great."

"Well, sir, yes ,it was taken down by a relay, but that can be fixed, and in every other respect it is more advanced, than all other ship we have, which are using reverse engineered Prothean tech. Well, every ship except the defense fleets."

"What about the LIDAR ping we detected before we made the burn to reach the sun faster?"

"It was an infrared ping, possibly long-range detection, although not very accurate in this range, so they probably have similar vision than us, or all nearby ships close their windows before the flashes to prevent eye damage, but that's unlikely."

"I was thinking more along the lines of who sent it out?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, but we're still too close to the sun to have any clear reading on the system."

"Hmm, doesn't hurt to be careful. Tactical, what's our status?"

"Shields are fully charged and up, but the travel knocked out several primary power relays. The secondaries are holding, however I'm not sure how much punishment can we take before they give out."

"I see, what about weapons?"

"They are in a much worse shape. The relay travel did a real number on it's power systems, we had to do a full shutdown in order to be able to fix them. They should be operational shortly."

"Understood. Helm, start plotting a course to Shanxi, and be ready to enter FTL at a moments notice, and hope they are friendly, whoever _they_ are."

As if on cue a brief shudder ran through the ship and the shields flashed from weapons impact.

"I just had to jinx it." – murmured the captain to himself

* * *

><p><strong>Few seconds before<strong>

**Weapons control, PSF _Spear of Justice_, System 314**

Saren gazed upon his console, at the small little dot representing the unknown ship. The unknown ship, that has just flown _out_ of the sun. His mind was having a hard time understanding the level of technology required to make that possible. His brother would most likely go with the most sensible option and attempt communications with the ship.

"If we could secure an alliance with them, it would be a huge benefit to all Council races, especially the Turians." - thought Saren.

_"But what if they chose to attack the Council races."_

"We would barely stand a chance, we could win because of numbers, but it would be a hard and long fight."

_"They would start with the Turians."_

"Yes, as the race with the most powerful military, we would most likely be the first target. We must alert the Hierarchy, prepare for their attack."

_"They wouldn't understand."  
><em>

"Ever since that disastrous patrol, nobody would listen to me."

_"They are vulnerable."_

"A trip through a star must be tasking. We may stand a chance against them, if we attack them now. Destroy the ship, study the wreckage and move against them, before they can move against us."

With that Saren reached for the console to open fire on the unknown ship, and signal the rest of the fleet to do the same. The voice now quiet in his head, satisfied...

* * *

><p><strong>Now<br>Bridge, SSV _Aurora_, System 314**

"Status!" - the voice of the Captain carried over the sound of the engagement.

"Detecting multiple ships! No exact count, the solar radiation is disrupting our sensors, but at least a dozen bogeys. Shields are holding for now, but can't say how much longer. The relay travel really did a number on the ship." - came the reply from the Tactical officer.

"Weapons?"

"Not yet, we still need a few minutes."

"We may not last that long... Helm how much longer, until we can go to FTL?"

"One minute, without further maneuvering."

"Sir. If we bypass the damaged part of the system and have the weapons draw energy directly from the grid, we should be able to fire a volley."

"Do it!"

"Frontal top shield is down! Minor hull damage, no casualties."

"Weapon bypass done."

"FIRE!"

* * *

><p><strong>CIC, PSF <em>Spear of Justice<em>, System 314**

Desolas, having overcome his shock, was just about to open a channel to the unknown ship, when a shudder ran through the ship, the telltale sing of the spinal cannon's firing. To his horror he saw the other ship in the fleet opening fire.

"What in the Spirits' name? I didn't order to open fire on the ship!"

"The fleet wide command came from Commander Arterius."

"Order all ships to cease-fire, then attempt to open communications. Send a security team to Weapons Control, I want Commander Arterius detained! Let's hope that..."

"Incoming fire!"

"Brace for impact!"

Gripping his seat Desolas watched as several bright golden bolt was fired from the unknown ship. They traversed the space between the ships in mere seconds, and impacted the barriers of his fleet. Shields flashed as they worked to absorb the kinetic energy of the bolts, and if they have been simple kinetic rounds they would have been more than able to handle it. Unfortunately for the turians, the _Aurora_ were equiped with new experimental plasma turrets, spewing out plasma bolts at significant speed. So even though the barriers absorbed the kinetic energy of the bolts, they couldn't do anything to stop the thermal energy of the bolt from reaching the hulls of the ships they were designed to protect. The intense heat flash boiled parts of the ships hull, and damaged the underlying systems.

"Report!" - called out Desolas.

"6 frigates have multiple hull breaches, and the PSF _Hunting Night_ lost propulsion. The rest of the frigates have taken major hull damage and have minor hull breaches. We have significant hull damage and some damage to secondary system" - Desolas blanched, his patrol fleet consisted of 12 frigates and his cruiser. - "They seems to be using plasma based weaponry. Our shield could stop the projectiles, but they couldn't do anything about the heat getting to our hulls. There were rumors about the salarians experimenting with something similar, but they couldn't make a useful prototype, because of energy limitations."

He realized this is a fight he couldn't win, not against this kind of firepower. The next volley could very easily destroy half of his fleet, he had only one choice, retreat and leave the disabled frigate behind.

"Ensign. Signal the fleet to retreat. We have no chance against them, the Hierarchy must be told what happened here."

"Sir! Detecting massive energy buildup in the enemy ship!" - called out the ensign at the sensors.

"Spirits protect us..." - whispered Desolas.

However instead of opening fire the ship begun to accelerate, while bright colorful particles began to appear around its hull, and move like they were air flowing around the vessel. Then the ship disappeared with a final burst of acceleration, and the colorful cloud dissipated.

"Sir! We have detected no sign of mass effect fields used by the ship, during its jump to FTL." - reported the turian at the sensors in a quiet voice.

"Understood ensign, thank you. Set a course to the nearest repair facility and contact Palaven Command."

* * *

><p><strong>Palaven Command, Palaven, Trebia System<strong>

Deep underground of the Turian capital several drowsy turians were siting in a meeting room wondering why was a meeting called at this late hour, yet when the Primarch of Palaven walked through the door, they all stood at attention and snapped off a sharp salute without a hint of tiredness.

"Admiral Covictus, what happened that would call for a meeting during the middle of the night?" - turned the Primarch to the Admiral in question, after returning the salute and sitting down in his seat.

"Approximately two hours ago the 27th Patrol Fleet passing through System 314 detected that the system's previously dormant relay has been activated." - this got everyone's attention. There were protocols in place for these situations, if this meeting have been called together it meant that first contact have been made, and by the looks of the admiral it wasn't a peaceful one. The admiral then continued the report detailing the events of what happened, with video footage of the emerging of the unknown ship from the sun, and the following battle.

"After the ship withdrawn, General Arterius ordered the fleet to head for the nearest repair facility, and contacted his superiors in Palaven Command. He is currently under orders to head for Palaven with Commander Arterius under arrest as fast as possible, for personal debriefing. The two nearest Patrol Fleet was dispatched to blockade the relay, they arrived 15 minutes ago. They are ordered to try to establish contact with any ship coming through the relay, but defend themselves if fired upon." - finished the report Admiral Covictus.

"The technology level of this species is... troubling, not even the asari seems to have come close. If a single one of their ship was capable of this, there is no telling what a fleet of them could do." - said the Primarch. - "What else does the after action analysis shows?"

"It seems that their weapons were designed for less power, as magnification of the footage shows several small explosions near the turrets, consistent with power conduit overloads. Possibly due to a desperate attempt to buy time, until they can withdraw. Also while their shields are based on different principles, they don't seem to be much more effective against kinetic weaponry than mass effect barriers, a slightly bigger asari ship's barriers would be able to absorb enough damage from a volley like that so the ship would receive only minor to medium hull damage, with a possibility of some minor hull breaches. We currently have no information on how these shields would fare against GUARDIAN lasers, but if the ship's flight through the sun is any indication, I'd expect they would perform much better. The trajectory of the ship upon withdrawal suggest their territories lie beyond Relay 314."

"What will be their reaction to this incident?" - asked the Primarch.

"Due to very limited information on their culture, we cannot predict their actions, only speculate. However, their most likely reaction would be an immediate counter-attack, possibly even full-scale war, considering that from their point of view we attacked their ship without provocation."

"On that note, what can you tell me about Commander Saren Arterius?" - interjected the Primarch.

"He was an exemplary soldier since boot camp, showing great promise. Saren received Cabal training, and is a talented ground operative, completed several difficult missions with success, but received multiple warnings due to his ruthlessness in completing his missions."

"What kind of ruthlessness?"

"He chose to complete some missions in a way, that while increasing the chance of success, caused higher amount of collateral damage. After a really messy mission on Aephus he was reprimanded and reassigned to the 13th Patrol Fleet. About a year later the patrol was ambushed and destroyed by pirates heading for a nearby asari colony. Saren was presumed dead, but arrived in a heavily damaged fighter that was part of the fleet few hours later to the colony, and managed to warn them to the attack. He received several commendations for it, but he received injuries to his right hand that left him unfit to remain a field operative."

"How he managed to get away?"

"He claimed that he was in a fighter bay, when they were ambused, and managed to take one of the fighters out before the ship was destroyed. Which left his fighter disabled, however he managed to repair it enough to make it to the colony."

"Impressive."

"Yes, but analysis of the fighter's damaged data recorder showed, that he recieved assistance from a black unidentifed vessel, the damage to the recorder made it impossible to assertain it's exact size, but it was about frigate class, with a long curved main body and four large and six smaller finger like appendages on the front. It almost looked like some water animal. Upon additional questioning he maintained his story, and evidence suggested he believed it himself. He was monitored since then, but due to no changes in his behavior, and no further contact from similar ships, no further action was taken. He was reassigned several times since then due to disagreements with superiors and crewmates as well. Eventually he was assigned under his brothers command in the hope that the mutual respect the brothers shared and family ties would allow Desolas to keep him in check and the area they patrolled was a relatively peaceful region until now."

"Thank you, Admiral." - said the Primarch to Covictus, before turning to the table at large. - "Commander Arterius will answer for his actions, however his actions would cause unnecessary concerns towards the turians, so I believe the details of this incident should be classified to everyone expect the Council."

"Wouldn't that also raise a great deal of suspicion towards the turians, sir?"

"Yes, it would, so as far as everyone else is concerned the patrol opened fire, because the unknown ship violated the Citadel Law by opening an inactive relay." - replied the Primarch.

"Now, in light of this incident, we cannot send a diplomatic mission to this species, as they're unlikely to believe us. I believe we just have to wait what their response will be. Hopefully we'll manage..." - the Primarch was interrupted, when Admiral Covictus spoke up after receiving a message.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, Primarch, but I just received a report that a ship came through Relay 314 and attacked the ships guarding it. Only one of our ship managed to retreat."

"Well, I think we have their answer, we now have no choice, but to move against them... Order the 4th and the 5th Fleet to rendezvous one relay jump away from the cluster and prepare to move in to try to pacify this new species. With a little luck we can take one of their colony, and start reverse engineering their technology to level the playing field."

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><p>CODEX : GALACTIC HISTORY : RELAY 314 INCIDENT<p>

'Relay 314 Incident', or 'The First Contact War' as humans  
>refer to it was a brief conflict betweenturians and humans.<br>It started when a turian patrol fleet fired on a human ship,  
>because it opened a dormant relay, thus violating Council Law.<p>

The resulting brief but bloddy conflict intruduced humanity to  
>the galactic community, where they proceded quickly dethrone<br>the asari as the most advanced race in the known galaxy.

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><p><strong>AN: Hoped you enjoyed! Reviews are most appriciated!**

**If you read it before, you notice that this chapter used to be in 2 parts. I've decided to merge them together, and add a codex entry to the end. Don't worry and read all the reviews and saved them so they didn't get lost during the merge.**


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: Ahoy! I'm back. Sorry, I didn't plan on taking this long with a chapter, but some stuff came up and had trouble writing for a while, but thanks to a great advice I read in another story's AN I managed to break it. (Not sure where I read it sorry... The advice was that you should just write something doesn't matter if it's connected to the story or not. I might post what I wrote at a later date)**

**Also I merged the former Chapter 1 into the Prologue and added a Codex entry to the end of it. Don't worry I've read all of your reviews and saved them as well, just in case. (But they've seemed to survived, so reviews for Chapter 2 _before_ 5th of November 2014, belong to the Prologue.)**

**But that's enough talk, onwards to the next chapter!**

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><p><strong>Bridge, SSV <em>Everest<em>, Shanxi System  
><strong>

"Attention, this is the captain speaking! I'm sure you're wondering why your shore leave on Shanxi was cut so short. Little under two hours ago, the SSV _Aurora_ came under attack during its final test run. Despite the unprovoked and sudden attack by 13 unknown ships, it has managed to retreat without casualties, and send a message to the Defense Council. However even with the new FTL drive, it would take several weeks to get back to Alliance territory, so we have been ordered to travel through the Shanxi-Theta relay, and clear the system from any immediate threat, to provide safe passage for them and to also buy time for reinforcements to arrive. The local defense fleet will remain in orbit of Shanxi in case they manage to bypass us. We should be arriving to the relay shortly, all hands get to their battle-stations!" - Captain Ivanova said, before terminating the ship wide broadcast, and turning to her crew.

While humanity prefered to solve problems peacefully, the unknown race clearly were on a different page having opened fire on a ship without provocation. However, preferring the more peaceful path, doesn't mean one knows not how to fight, and while humanity have managed to avoid any really large scale conflicts, no race is without inner disputes, which made them capable fighters, should the need arise.

"Status?" - she asked as her dreadnought slowed down from FTL speeds.

While not equipped with the new Skirter FTL Drive, as the only functional prototype had been installed on the _Aurora_, thanks to the reverse-engineered Prothean tech, the ship was still faster, than any Council ship. Add to that the fact a research team, lead by Dr. Carter, found a way to manage the static charge buildup in the drive core a few years ago, while it didn't get rid of the charge completely, it allowed the war-ship to travel almost twice as long than any other ship with a drive core of the same size. Although, the new Skirter FTL Drives would be faster than regular Mass Effect FTL, because they partially shifted the ship into hyperspace, to skirt on its edge, they required a huge amount of power, and had a lengthy cooldown period. Plus the field it used to propel the ship to superluminal speeds had very specific shape requirements to work, warships would need a major redesign, so it was unlikely that warship would get the technology any time soon.

"We've dropped out of FTL, engines fully functional, relay transmission sequence ready to initiate." - came from the helmsman.

"Sensors show no contacts. Recon drone is ready to be deployed through the relay. Both the energy shields and the kinetic barriers are at full power and raised. All weapon systems charged and ready." - replied Lieutenant Cole, the ship's tactical officer and XO.

"Send the drone through the relay."

The _Everest_ was the first of its class several years ago and with the new retrofits still a formidable warship, but now humanity was planning on phasing them in favor of the new Kilimanjaro-class. The new class, while only one had been completed, has a 25% longer main gun, compared to the Everest-class 800 meter one. Thanks to the retrofits, the _Everest_ now had the new repeater system, which was already built in the larger class. It allowed the ship to fire its main cannon multiple times in rapid succession, if the weapon capacitors were fully charged, and the gun itself was cold enough, so components wouldn't melt in the sudden heat spike, however this sudden temperature change put much strain on the parts, reducing their lifespan at least four or five time than normal. Unfortunately, due to this system being installed in a retrofit and not already built in, it was less efficient than on the Kilimanjaro-class, only allowing a double-tap, instead of the triple-tap the larger ships were capable of, and had a longer cooldown period.

GARDIAN turrets were also retrofitted, although due to the rescue orders they were only half complete, missing several of the new plasma-based emplacements, and the new second layer of energy shielding under the kinetic barriers only worked on 20% capacity. But the _Everest_ was still capable to pack quite the punch with its four 600 meter long secondary forward mass accelerators with smaller firepower but wider firing arc, and in total about a dozen much smaller mass drivers on its sides.

Captain Ivanova leaned forward to study the data sent by the probe, before it self-destructed, after arrival. The aliens clearly have expected a response, as there were 2 cruisers and 24 frigates, in three groups, two to the sides of the cruisers, and one in between, waiting for them on the other side of the relay.

"Prepare to transit through the relay. I want a double-tap on the left cruiser, the closest frigates to it targeted with the secondary weapons, and fighters launched as soon we arrive. Have them focus on the other cruiser, disable if possible, destroy if necessary."

"Aye, aye!" - came a chorus of voices, as the ship accelerated towards the relay, and disappeared in a blue flash towards the unsuspecting turians on the other end of the relay.

* * *

><p><strong>Bridge, PSF <em>Valiant Protector<em>, System 314**

Captain Silandros watching the relay nervously ever since they have arrived about 15 minutes ago. Having seen what a single ship did to a patrol fleet, the fact that there was another patrol fleet by his side or the fact that these aliens had to overcharge their weapons to achieve that destruction, didn't reassure him one bit.

"Contact!" - called out the ensign manning the sensor station - "It's extremely small, most likely a drone... and it's just self-destructed."

"To all ships, get ready, here they come! Do not fire unless fired upon first!" - came the voice of the captain of the other cruiser and commander of the whole fleet from the comm.

Only moments after the order the relay flared again, and a dreadnought burst forth from the other side, roughly one and a half larger, than the 600-meter ship encountered before. It looked different too, it had an oblong middle section with two long and narrow wing like sections on the sides slopped down and forward, while the ship from two hours ago was more or less flat, and shaped like a long triangle, with the to longer sides curving inward, and the back of the ship curving outward.

Before they had a chance to even attempt communications, Silandros watched in horror as its main gun flashed two times in less than a second aimed at the other cruiser. The ferrous slugs, each having kinetic energy equivalent of 70 kilotons of TNT, streaked across the distance between the two ships. The first round has overwhelmed the barriers, as it came crashing through them, embedding itself in the ship, the energy remaining in its barriers could barely stop a thrown paper ball let alone the second projectile hurrying after the first. The already weakened armor on the cruiser barely managed to slow it down as it plowed through the ship, turning it into a quickly growing debris field..

Just as the main gun finished firing, the secondary cannons opened up, sending smaller, and slower projectiles at the frigates near the flagship of the fleet. Unfortunately for said ships, a secondary mass accelerator of the dreadnought was still more than capable of punching through the shields of the smaller ships. As such 2 frigates on each side of the cruiser suffered the same fate as their leader moments before..

Silandros clamped down on his nerves, before beginning to issue orders.

"Scramble fighters, and I want a synchronized volley on that ship by the whole fleet! Come on, people you know the drill!"

It was about 200 years ago, when a patrol group came across a pirate fleet with a dreadnought, and while nobody managed to figure out _how_ exactly they have managed to get their hands on one, the tactic improvised by the patrol's commander, was integrated into training ever since. As taking down the dreadnought shields would have took too long, the patrol leader had the fleet fire one concentrated volley on the larger ship's main gun, timed so the rounds from the frigate impact just before the cruiser's, temporarily weakening the shield in that area so the heavier slug can punch through it and disable the weapon.

So Silandros watched satisfied as the slugs sped towards the other ship, a bit relieved that its main gun would be inoperable shortly. However, his relief quickly turned to distress, as the other ship's barriers merely flashed violently but didn't fail. In response its secondary guns fired again and reduced 4 more frigates to space scrap.

"Full ahead, get us in close, and fire another synched volley!" - he knew that they couldn't hold out against this firepower at this range, their only chance was to get up close and personal, and out of the firing line of the ship main and secondary cannons and hope that the guns on its broadside were not as powerful.

But his distress from earlier, just as quickly as it came from relief, went to fear, as the second volley flashed against the shield without any visible effect. To his knowledge the only ship in the Council fleet that could take 2 volleys like that was the Destiny Ascension, even an asari dreadnoughts' shields couldn't take this firepower twice in quick succession. The other ship's response was the same as before, destroying 3 more frigates, and clipping the 4th.

"The PSF _Hunting Night_ is hit, they've lost weapons on the port side, and venting atmosphere."

"What about their engines?" - asked Silandros

"Disabled, but should be back up shortly."

"Tell them to get out of here as soon as they can. We'll try to buy as much time as possible. Evasive action, get us out of the firing lane of their forward guns. Time until fighters in range?"

"15 seconds."

Silandros knew their situation didn't looked good, in less then a minute half of the fleet was gone, without doing any damage to the other ship. If it were a turian dreadnought they would have reduced it to rubble by now, but as they've yet to do so, he had a duty to make sure news, and more importantly footage of the fight gets to the Hierarchy.

Just as his fleet was scattering, the secondary cannons fired another volley, but fortunately the fleet was already moving out of the firing lane, only 2 frigates were hit directly this time, secondary explosions slowly engulfing them, while 2 other took a glancing hit to the sides.

"Spirits help us!" - he whispered, just as the fighters were about to enter weapons range and release their torpedos, hoping that they somehow manage to get out of this alive.

* * *

><p><strong>Bridge, SSV <em>Everest<em>, Unknown System**

Shields flashed briefly as a piece of debris, large enough to activate them, was deflected from its collision course. The space around the relay was filled with the remains of the turian ships. The last frigate, the one that was disabled earlier in the fight, managed to withdraw a few moments ago, just as the final frigate was destroyed, with a shot that was intended to be a disabling shot, but managed to nick its drive core, sending it into an overload.

Now the Alliance ship was trying to salvage anything from the enemy ships, as they waited for the _Aurora_ to return to the relay.

"Sir. Damage report." - said a crew member, handing the captain a datapad.

Despite the fact, they were heavily outnumbered, the damage was not as expansive as predicted, based on the data sent by the _Aurora._ The torpedos launched by fighters wreaked havoc on the kinetic barriers, and due to the incomplete retrofits the enemy managed to break through the energy shielding. Fortunately, by that time only a few frigates remained, so other than a few bent and melted hull plating and a few minor hull breaches, they didn't manage to do significant harm.

The new GARDIAN turrets managed to quickly swat the relatively small number of enemy fighters from space, and then proceeded to help out the broadside cannons in pulverizing the remaining frigates. The second cruiser was taken down shortly after the other fleet broke formation to evade the forward guns with a focused shot from 2 secondary accelerators quickly followed by a round from the main one.

However this was clearly a small fleet, probably sent here to monitor the relay until the heavy-hitters get here. Which made Ivanova antsy to get out of here, and back to the Shanxi to prepare the defense against the aliens next strike, while hoping reinforcements get there before that.

Just as she contemplated on contacting the _Aurora_ for an ETA, it burst from the darkness of space the colorful cloud fading into nothingness around it and headed for the relay.

"Helm, take us home."

And so shortly afterwards the relay found itself alone in the void once more.

* * *

><p><strong>CIC, PSF <em>Unyielding<em>, Unknown System**

"Transit through the relay complete. Scanning the system for contact."

Desolas eyes darted across the lines on his screen as he took in the information, while wondering the events of the past few hours. He was on his way to Palaven with his brother, when he got the message from Palaven Command and he still had trouble wrapping his head around it. After reviewing the aliens counter-strike his superiors believed his actions were exemplary in the circumstances and as he was the only one with any combat experience against these newcomers capable of fighting, he was tasked with pacifying this new race. Thus he found himself on the bridge of one of the 4 dreadnoughts in the fleet. When he first thought that Palaven Command decided to send 2 fleets, he thought it was a bit overkill, as a patrol fleet while taking heavy damage managed to force one of their ships to withdraw. Then he watched the footage of their counter-strike, and realized that the small barely cruiser class ship was relatively weak compared to a war-ship.

Just as the fleet managed to get into formation, the turian manning the sensors reported.

"Sir! Scans show, that the 4th planet of the system is a garden world with multiple contacts around it. No other contacts in the system."

"Understood! Prepare for combat, engage FTL, take us in range."

He mentally prepared himself for the hard fight ahead, while the fleet oriented itself and surged forward towards their target.

* * *

><p><strong>CIC, SSV <em>Everest<em>, Shanxi System**

Captain Ivanova cursed quietly in her native russian, when the spy satellite she had deployed near the relay detected the enemy ships.

She was hoping they would get here a little bit later, reinforcements were still some time away, and the enemy came in force as she predicted. Display showed 4 one kilometer long dreadnoughts, each escorted by 3 cruisers, with 36 frigates supporting the whole fleet. They were moving back into formation that was disrupted by the relay transit, preparing to move against the defense fleet consisting of her damaged dreadnought, a two cruiser and a handful of frigates, as the _Aurora_ was immediately were sent back deeper into human territory. She knew instantly she'll not be able to prevent any landings, but most of the civilians were already at the shelters, and she only need to hold out in orbit long enough to reinforcements to arrive. Based on the previous engagements the aliens wouldn't be able to stand up to that force, even with a fleet this big.

She wished Shanxi was a little better developed, then it would have some planetary defense cannons, but her musings were cut short as the enemy fleet jumped forward just out of weapons range.

"I want a double-tap on the first dreadnought, right after a volley from the rest of the fleet, hopefully that'll give them a bit of a pause. Have our fighters stay close until we thin theirs a bit, then make an attack run on this dreadnought, have the interceptors and the frigates focus on their fighters." - she started issuing orders. - "And pray the fleet gets here soon."

* * *

><p><strong>CIC, PSF <em>Unyielding<em>, Unknown System**

Desolas flinched when sparks burst from a nearby console, as the enemy dreadnought continued to pound away at his ship. The fight didn't start well, then continued to get worse. He lost one of his dreadnoughts in seconds from a coordinated volley, then one of the enemy cruiser took a dreadnought shoot without flinching, something he never heard of before. In the end it took two more shots to bring it down, the first managing to get throught the barriers only to be stopped by what seemed to be _energy_ shields, something he only heard of in sci-fi movies. Fortunately the small frigates didn't seem to have similar shields, probably because they were too small to be able to generate enough power for it.

But then the enemy fighters had to get involved, and destroy another of his dreadnoughts using disruptor torpedos and missles that were ridiculously powerful for their size. On the plus side a lot of them were shot down by the time they managed to bring down the _Resolute. _He was taking unprecedented casualties from a fleet this size, but he was slowly winning, and it was a good thing too. His troops on the ground would need orbital support soon, the enemy probably prepared for them, but with the turians having the "high ground", they could easily turn the tide with some well aimed bombardment._  
><em>

It was at this time the universe decided to ruin his day.

"Sir! New contacts! They just dropped out of FTL. Reading 4 dreadnoughts and their escorts. They are closing fast."

Desolas stomach clenched in fear as he took a look at the readings, 2 out of the 4 dreadnoughts were around a kilometer length, and considering what a single damaged 800-meter long one did to the fleet, his chances didn't looked good. However, fate seemed to smile down him a little, or at least he thought so, as one of the large ship started slowing down, well out of weapons range, and began to deploy fighters in swarms. He frowned a bit at that, why would a race build a ship with the only purpose to carry fighters into battles, it was dreadnoughts that decided fights, not fighters. But then he remembered what a small amount of fighters did to one of his dreadnoughts, and he became more wary of the drove of fighters heading his way.

Just as he reached over to signal the fleet to retreat, the lead ship of the enemy reinforcements came into range. He barely had the time to notice the warnings or the three flashes of the main gun of the ship, before the slugs impacted his vessel, and despite its name it was powerless to do anything to prevent its own destruction, just as the other dreadnought of his fleet buckled under the fire of the two other reinforcing dreadnoughts.

* * *

><p><strong>Engineering, SSV <em>Einstein<em>, Shanxi System**

Commander Shepard winced as the first casualty and damage reports began to filter in from the fight happening some distance away from the carrier, hoping she would never have to worry about his little John, like she was worrying about her pilots out in the fray right now.

As the XO and Chief Engineer of the carrier, she was responsible for the maintenance and repair of the ship and the fighters on it, and she knew almost everyone under her command. Those pilot out there regularly trusted their lives on her and her team to make sure their craft performed as they were supposed so.

She tried not to think of the lives lost in the defense fleet before they got here, as she looked at the readings from the few remaining frigates and the _Everest_, which somehow was still fighting despite the crippling damage it already took, facing down the much larger enemy fleet.

Like a flock of angry birds, the fighters descended upon the alien fleet. The enemy began the fight with 12 cruisers and 36 frigates aside from the 4 now destroyed dreadnoughts; by the time the reinforcing fleet got here only one of the cruisers and 3 frigates were destroyed or disabled. The fighters carrying MkII Disruptor Torpedos and Naquadah Enhanced Anti-Ship Missiles were flying behind a screen of interceptors specifically designed and equipped for small craft combat. The formation was broken when the alien fighters and interceptors were nearing weapons range. The interceptors went off to deal with the enemy interceptors and keep them off their fighter comrades' back who kept speeding on towards the enemy fleet. The enemy fighters were mostly ignored as there were another group of interceptors defending the friendly ships with the help of the GARDIAN weapons.

As the human fighters got in range they let lose their torpedos, then after a brief pause the anti-ship missiles too, before speeding off towards the fray to help their interceptor brothers. Just as the torpedos were about to impact the barriers of the enemy ships, the trigger mechanism inside the warhead released the electric charge stored in the torpedos naquadah enhanced power cells into the lump of refined eezo. Without any controlling elements that would otherwise manipulate the shape and strength of the mass effect field, unpredictable, constantly changing fields were created around the eezo core ripping the torpedos to shreds, exactly as they were supposed to. As the fields were never inteded to be contained only inside the torpedo casing, the field extended and reached the barriers against whom they were designed. The rapidly changing warp fields overloading and disabling the barriers where the torpedos hit; And provided safe passage to the missiles racing behind them, the missiles using their momentum and reinforced nose cones punched through their target's armor and detonated just bellow it, gutting the enemy ships.

Almost at the same time, most of the alien fleet was lit up by an eerie blue glow as the torpedos impacted, which was quickly replaced by the much brighter white-orange of the missiles' detonation. When the light cleared, the tables were suddenly turned, as only a heavily damaged cruiser and and a handful of scarred frigates remained... and the well-established war-doctrine of 'dreadnoughts win battles' came crushing down.

After this the fight was over quickly.

* * *

><p>CODEX : SCIENCE : NAQUADAH<p>

It is sometimes considered an isotope of element zero as naquadah also  
>doesn't contain protons or electrons, but instead of the one neutron in eezo,<br>it's made up from four neutron in the shape of a tetrahedron.

It was discovered accidentally by human scientists during particle  
>accelerator experiments, and its production is one of the most guarded<br>secrets of the Systems Alliance. It's unique properties and the Alliance  
>reluctance to sell it makes it one of the most expensive substances on the market.<p>

It is a room temperature superconductor and can be used to store  
>energy much more efficiently than with any other material. However,<br>it is also a bit unstable and if you channel too much energy into it  
>by accident (or by design), you could find yourself in a lot of trouble, really fast.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I did my best describing the ships outlook, the Aurora looks like a small Destiny, and the warships simply look like in canon Mass Effect, maybe a bit bulkier.**

**As for naquadah, I wondered on it a while, I always wanted to make humanity more powerful technologically, but weaker economically compared to the other races. If I make naquadah a naturally occurring element like in Stargate, the other races would have found it and researched it, before the First Contact War, and humanity would were it was in canon. I didn't want to make it so it magically found in human controlled space, so that left the discovered by accident option. As for why other races didn't found them before, I think the only people who would have a chance of discovering are the Salarians, but even them are more into biological research, than 'understand-the-secrets-of-the-universe' research. The Turians, I don't think they would try experimenting in a way that was potentially dangerous to a large group of people. The rest of the races, especially the Asari, are content just using technology based on Prothean tech.**

**At least that's my view, and granted I don't know exactly the risks of these kind of experiments, but come on... we're smashing together things going near light speed here, that can't be risk-free.**

**Anyways, I hoped you enjoyed! Reviews are most welcomed!**


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